A convoy transporting Kenyan defense forces (KDF) was targeted in a roadside bomb explosion outside Liboi town near Somali border on Friday, reports said. A remote-controlled land-mine bomb believed to be planted by Somalia-based Al shabaab militants ripped through the KDF escorting convoy between Liboi and Dhobley.

The bomb blast has destroyed one of vehicles in the convoy, causing unidentified casualties as Kenyan military did not comment on the IED attack.

The KDF convoy left Liboi town and was en route to Dhobley at the time of the attack, according to the local residents. Liboi, a key town located 18 kilometers west of the Somali border, and it has been hit by several roadside and cross border attacks by Al shabaab over the past four years.

Rabat-The Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) belonging to the national intelligence agency on Thursday announced dismantling an ISIS sleeper terrorist cell in each of the cities of Tétouan, Martil and Casablanca. The ring comprised six members.

Primary details confirm that the members are closely affiliated with ISIS off-shoot terrorists who are seeking a new foothold in Morocco, falling into the ISIS larger expansionist strategy implemented across Syria and Iraq.

According to a press release issued Thursday by the Moroccan Interior ministry, the captured ISIS members were planning to recruit local fighters who were to be sent to terror training camps before coming back to carry out attacks against soft targets and strategic sites in Morocco.

The schemed plan was to send members of this cell to one of ISIS’ camps to undergo military trainings and return to Morocco in order to commit specific terrorist operations, said the statement.

Last April, the BCIJ announced the arrest of three ISIS operatives who were planning to launch terrorist attacks and set up a terrorist local branch in Morocco.

Moroccan authorities are saving no efforts in their war against ISIS extremists. They have disrupted over 160 terror cells since 2002, and nearly forty over the past three years alone.

As the international coalition intensifies airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the extremist group started moving to North Africa and particularly to Libya where ISIS terrorists have bolstered their influence and presence.

Thursday’s suspects will be brought to justice after the completion of investigations led under the supervision of public prosecution.

On the other hand, Moroccan official Mohammed Saleh al-Tamek, speaking at the graduation ceremony of the first group of the « fourth layer prison guard » comprising 199 guards, revealed the difficulties facing the prison sector given the lack of employees with the increase in numbers of newfound prisons in the country.

[Libya Herald] The Libyan Red Islamic Thingy has reported that 117 bodies have been washed up across 25 km of beaches of the western Libyan coastal city of Zuwara. The bodies include those of young children, reports Migrant Report.

Zuwara Council which has been conducting a campaign to stop people smuggling, condemned those responsible for the deaths.

Meanwhile,...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had been cornered by the banditti... MSF has today reported that a fat merchantman Aquarius has rescued 96 migrants colonists at sea off Libyan waters. These included 23 kids under the age of 18, including two under five.

Further east across the Mediterranean, a 20-meter boat with about 700 migrants colonists that had set off from the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria has capsized about 75 nautical miles south of Crete. Greek Coastguard had reported rescuing 342 migrants colonists. They also reported recovering four bodies.

This is the second incident in 2016 off Egypt after another boat had capsized in April which had departed from Egypt with an unconfirmed 500 deaths. The incident happened when two vessels, one from eastern Libya and one from Egypt, met at sea and an attempt to transfer migrants colonists from one boat to the other went catastrophically wrong.

The incident confirms fears by experts that there will be a surge of illegal migration attempts by sea from Libya and Egypt as a result of the EU-The Sick Man of Europe Turkey...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... deal and subsequent closure of the Turkey/Balkan route.

It also confirms the increased sophistication and mobility of migrants colonists and the head smugglers as they are prepared to switch routes in reaction to anti-migration measures as well as use sophisticated navigation and mobiles to coordinate missions. Off Libya, rescuers confirmed to this publication that smugglers would phone them after sending boats into sea in order to rescue them.

[INFORMATIONNG] Less than a week after four persons, including a 24-year-old trader were killed in religious violence that broke out in Pandogari, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, a woman trader has been beheaded by angry Moslems youths in Kano over allegations that she blasphemed Prophet Muhammad.

The victim, whose identity was not disclosed but said to be of Igbo extraction, was accused of blasphemy during a religious argument at the popular Wambai market on Thursday evening.

The woman, who deals in plastic wares at the local market, was reportedly in company of her husband when she was attacked by the angry youths and beheaded.

But for the intervention of the police, the same fate could have befallen the husband, who witnessed the unfortunate murder of his wife by the youths.

Contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Kano Police Command, DSP Musa Magaji, confirmed the incident.

He said " At about 4 30 pm, there was a disagreement between the murdered woman and some traders bordering on religion.

"The woman was said to have blasphemed Prophet Mohammed, which did not go down well with the mob".

[INFORMATIONNG] The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai says the Army has gone after Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...turbans who fled Sambisa and were hiding in Taraba.

Buratai said this when he paid a courtesy visit to Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba, in continuation of his tour of Army formations in the state.

"Taraba has not been affected by this insurgency since it started except for the recent incidences that are related to Boko Haram especially as they are being pushed out of Borno," Buratai said.

"We strongly suspect some of them are currently parading themselves around this state; we are working on our intelligence and information from some good citizens.

"We are banking on support about their movement and we are equally tracking them so that we get them as soon as we can."

[ALLAFRICA] The Nigerian army on Wednesday said 77 Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...gunnies have surrendered to troops of 122 task force battalion on Operation Lafiya Dole in Borno State.

He explained that the surrendered Boko Haram members have been moved to Yamteke by combined team of 26 Task Force Brigade for preliminary investigation and screening.

Usman said troops have also incarceratedDrop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! a deserter soldier, Corporal Musa Titima of 117 Task Force Battalion, attached to 114 Task Force Battalion, who absconded from duty while on Operation Crackdown at Bitta.

The soldier was also allegedly involved in a fracas with Mr Salisu Ngatha at Kabang Ward on 30th May 2016 that led to the death of the civilian.

He said following tip off by well meaning Nigerians, troops of 7 Division Garrison, conducted clearance patrol at some villages which include: Abachari, Asanari, Mediari, Toluwari, Chuwnari, Gaya, Zarumari, Alanari, Shuwari, Ngadaya, Chempo, Samaa, Matari, Utoro and Kayamla in Jere and Konduga Local Government Areas of Borno State on 31st May 2016.

He added that during the patrol, troops came in contact with members of the Boko Haram group at Samaa village, killing a number of them and recovered three cycle of violences, 143 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, two bicycles, two bags of mango, one tricycle tyre pump, two water bottles and pellets for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) making

Usman also said troops of 81 Battalion and 251 Task Force Battalion, 25 Task Force Brigade on 30th May 2016, received 79 persons who claimed to have been kept captives by Boko Haram murderous Moslems at Ngwalimiri village but escaped at their location.

He said in furtherance of the efforts to keep Bitta-Damboa road open and secure to commuters, troops of 28 Task Force Brigade have cleared Bulajani, Mulgwo and Muotu villages of remnants of Boko Haram elements.

He added that during an encounter at Moutu village, a soldier sustained an injury on the forehead, while Five Boko Haram members were killed by the troops with a few others were suspected to escape with gunshot wounds.

He also said the advancing troops linked up with their counterparts of 25 Task Force Brigade at Gombori village and rescued 157 persons escaping from Boko Haram captivity.

He added that troops of 7 Division Garrison arrested a 28 year old suspected Boko Haram spy, Musa Mallam Aman, around the Garrison Headquarters complex in Maiduguri metropolis.

Usman said preliminary investigation confirmed that he hailed from Maradhi village in Niger Republic and added that he was not alone as there were Boko Haram spies in Maiduguri.

He said while efforts have been intensified to track and arrest his other accomplices, Musa has since been handed over to Joint Interrogation Committee (JIC).

He added that troops of 22 Brigade Garrison and their Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Dikwa have also embarked on routine and fighting patrols to maintain security on construction and rehabilitation works of public buildings and infrastructure that would facilitate return of public officials and people back to their ancestral homes.

He said the troops have been carrying out clearance operations and patrols to keep Maiduguri-Mafa-Dikwa-Gomboru Ngala road open and secure.

He said troops have also cleared Boko Haram hideouts along Gwoza-Kwatara-Kasa-Uvaha hills, where they rescued four men, two women and five children that fled Boko Haram location at Uvaha.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A US air strike last month killed four suspected Al-Qaeda Death Eaters in Yemen, the ninth such attack this year, the US military disclosed on Friday.

The strike on May 19 took place in the southern province of Shabwa, US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement.

It brought to nine the number of US air strikes against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP) since the beginning of the year, the statement said.

Four of the strikes had not previously been disclosed.

US attacks have killed a total of 81 suspected AQAP fighters, the statement said.

An air strike against a training camp on March 22 killed 56 Death Eaters, according to Centcom's latest tally.

The United States, which has considered AQAP the most dangerous Al-Qaeda branch since 2009, regularly conducts Arclight airstrikes against the jihadist group in Yemen, mostly using drones.

AQAP has taken advantage of the country's civil conflict between Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...rebels and Yemeni government forces to expand its influence in the country's south and southeast.

US soldiers had been deployed in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...until March 2015, when the last troops left the country in the face of a Houthi rebel advance.

However,there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... a "very small number" of US soldiers recently returned to the southern port of Mukalla, retaken from AQAP in April, the Pentagon confirmed last month.

[An Nahar] German prosecutors have launched legal proceedings against 180 suspects linked to jihadist groups in Syria, the justice ministry said Friday, a day after police juggedMaw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! three Syrians suspected of planning an attack.

"The chief prosecutor is currently carrying out 120 proceedings targeting 180 suspects in connection with the civil war in Syria, for their membership in, or backing of, a terrorist organization," said justice ministry front man Philip Scholz.

Separately, the interior ministry said there were "499 potentially dangerous individuals in the field of Islamist terrorism."

Federal prosecutors said Thursday police had broken up a suspected terror cell which was planning to carry out a suicide kaboom in the western city of Duesseldorf for the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group.

Two attackers were allegedly planning to detonate boom jackets while the others were to kill passersby with guns and explosives on a major street in Duesseldorf, prosecutors said in a statement.

The suspects were identified as 27-year-old Hamza C., 25-year-old Mahood B., and Abd Arahman A. K., 31, who were arrested in the states of Brandenburg near Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Wurttemberg.

A fourth Syrian man, Saleh A., 25, had been in jug in La Belle France since turning himself in in February, they said, and Germany had now requested his extradition.

Saleh A. had gone to a cop shoppe in northern Gay Paree on February 1, telling officers that he had "a certain amount of information about a sleeper cell that was ready to strike in Germany," a French judicial source said.

He was held for four days and interrogated by anti-terrorist police.

"His statement led to investigations with German authorities which ... led to the arrest of these three suspects," the source added.

Saleh A. told French Sherlocks that 10 people were to carry out the terror plan, and that besides him and the three arrested in Germany, other members of the cell were to travel to Germany, German weekly Spiegel reported, quoting unnamed sources.

The suspect had been registered as an asylum seeker since October 16, 2013 in Kaarst, North Rhine-Westphalia, according to the city's spokeswoman.

He had turned himself in because he did not want his daughter to grow up knowing her father was a terrorist, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.

[An Nahar] The Turkish army on Friday completed a nearly three-month operation to eliminate the presence of outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) faceless myrmidons in a majority-Kurdish town in the southeast.

The military offensive in the town of Nusaybin in Mardin province, bordering Syria, began after authorities imposed a curfew on March 14, the private Dogan news agency reported.

A total of 495 PKK faceless myrmidons have been killed since then in Nusaybin alone, it said. It is not possible to independently verify the toll.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has vowed to uproot the PKK, classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, with so-called "clean-up" operations in several towns including Nusaybin and Yuksekova in nearby Hakkari province.

Activists have accused the security forces of causing huge destruction to urban centers and killing civilians. But the government says the operations are essential for public safety and the PKK is to blame for the damage.

In another development, seven Turkish soldiers were maimed Friday in an kaboom in the Diyarbakir province in the southeast, security sources said.

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Baghdad Operations Command announced on Friday killing one of the ISIS senior leaders during an aerial bombardment in the area of al-Saqalawiya north of Fallujah.

The commander of Baghdad Operations, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir al-Shammari, said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The Army Aviation conducted an aerial strike on one of the ISIS shelters in the center of al-Saqalawiya (north of Fallujah).”

He added, “The strike resulted in killing one of the ISIS leaders known as Abu Bshir al-Sudani,” stressing, “We are Only 600 meters away from the center of al-Saqalawiya.”

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The commander of Jazeerah Operations, Maj. Gen. Qasim al-Muhammadi, announced on Friday the killing and wounding of 30 ISIS elements by an artillery strike in Heet City (70 km west of Ramadi) in Anbar Province.

Muhammadi said in a brief statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The artillery of the [army’s] Seventh Division managed to shell shelters belonging to the ISIS south of al-Doulab area in the city of Heet,” adding that, “The shelling resulted in the destruction of these shelters, in addition to killing 24 [ISIS] elements and wounding 6 others.”
Iraqi forces detain ISIS sniper in al-Saqalawiya

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A security source in Baghdad Operations Command said on Friday, that the security forces arrested the most prominent ISIS sniper in the vicinity of al-Saqalawiya in Anbar Province.

The source said in a brief statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Today, a force belonging to Baghdad Operations Command was able to arrest the most prominent ISIS sniper [in] al-Saqalawiya, known as Falah Ibrahim al-Turkawi, during a security operation that was carried out on the outskirts of al-Saqalawiya vicinity north of the city of Fallujah,” adding that, “The security force has taken the detainee to the troops at the rear [lines] in order to conduct the necessary investigations.”

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Ministry of Interior said on Friday, that nine people had been either killed or injured in a bomb blast east of Baghdad.

The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This evening, an [improvised] explosive device went off near shops in the area of A’our, east of Baghdad, resulting in the death of two persons and wounding seven others,” pointing out that, “A security force rushed to the scene and transferred the injured to a nearby hospital for medical treatment and the two dead bodies to the forensic medicine authority, while imposed a security cordon around the area of the incident and prevented approaching it.”

[An Nahar] Around 1,000 demonstrators gathered in central Baghdad Friday to demand an end to corruption and a government reshuffle, in the latest in a long string of weekly protests.

Unlike the previous week, no violence erupted between the massive deployment of security forces and the protesters, most of whom are supporters of holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah..."We must keep up the pressure, this is the only way of getting the intended result: ending corruption and giving Iraq back to Iraqis," said Ali Chasseb, a taxi driver who came from the southern town of Amara for the protest.

Sadrist protests have twice led to breaches of the fortified Green Zone, where the country's top institutions are located.

The demonstrators want Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's plan to replace the government of party-affiliated ministers with a cabinet of technocrats to be implemented.

The move is being opposed however by many politicians, including within Abadi's own party, who want to preserve the patronage system that is their main source of power and wealth.

[An Nahar] Iraqi forces made progress Friday in their assault on Fallujah,... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... moving into a southern neighborhood of the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group's bastion, commanders said.

An AFP photographer embedded with interior ministry SWAT teams said Iraqi forces had managed to enter the Shuhada neighborhood, on the southern edge of the city center.

"The security forces have advanced from Naimiya neighborhood to Shuhada," Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the operation's overall commander, told AFP.

"The festivities between the security forces and ISIS members were fierce," said another officer, using an Arab acronym for IS.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launch of an operation to retake Fallujah on May 23.

After an initial phase of shaping operations aimed at cutting off the jihadists' last supply lines, elite forces on May 30 attempted to enter Fallujah from three directions.

They have not pushed deep into the IS bastion however, slowed in their advance by tough resistance and widespread concern over the fate of 50,000 civilians believed to be trapped inside the city.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs camps for displaced people south of the city, said Friday that an estimated 12,000 residents of the area have fled their homes since May 21.

None of them however were from the city center, where trapped civilians have little to eat, no safe water to drink and are at risk from intense shelling and bombardment.

[ARA News] QAMISHLO – Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Friday freed a Yezidi family that has been held by that extremist group of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa province.

The YPG leadership released a statement, obtained by ARA News, confirming the release of a Yezidi family from ISIS detention in Raqqa on Friday evening.

“In a strategic operation, a YPG unit infiltrated into a detention centre in the ISIS-held Raqqa and released a number of prisoners, including a Yezidi family,” the Kurdish leadership said.

The released family, including a mother and her three daughters, had been kidnapped by ISIS jihadis in Shingle/Sinjar district of northern Iraq and they had been moved to Syria’s Raqqa in early 2015.

“They have been moved to a safe location in Rojava [Syria’s Kurdish region],” it said, without giving further details.

The Kurdish YPG stressed that the efforts will continue until releasing all Yezidi captives held by ISIS in Raqqa.

Raqqa is the de facto capital for the ISIS self-declared Caliphate.

In August 2014, ISIS radicals took over the Yezidi region of Shingle in northern Iraq, causing a mass displacement of nearly 400,000 people to Duhok and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. Tens of thousands of Yezidis remained trapped in Mount Sinjar, suffering mass killings, kidnappings and rape cases, according to local and military sources. Also, more than 3000 Yezidi girls have been taken by the radical group as sex slaves.

On November 13, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, backed by an air cover from the US-led coalition forces, announced the liberation of the entire Yezidi district of Shingal in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh after fierce battles with ISIS extremists. The Kurdish forces have recently discovered more than five mass graves in the Yezidi region, where hundreds of Yezidi civilians have been summarily executed and buried by ISIS jihadis. Yet, thousands of Yezidi women remain in ISIS captivity after being sold as sex slaves across the group’s territory in Iraq and Syria.

International Calls

Human Rights Watch called on ISIS to urgently release Yezidi women and girls abducted since 2014. “The longer they are held by ISIS, the more horrific life becomes for Yezidi women, bought and sold, brutally raped, their children torn from them,” said Skye Wheeler, women’s rights emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch.

According to officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria continue to hold about 1,800 abducted Yezidi women and girls.

The United Nations has cited allegations, based on Yezidi officials’ estimates, that as many as 3,500 people remained in ISIS captivity as of October 2015.

“Many of the abuses, including torture, sexual slavery, and arbitrary detention, would be war crimes if committed in the context of the armed conflict, or crimes against humanity if they were part of ISIS policy during a systematic or widespread attack on the civilian population,” the HRW said. “The abuses against Yezidi women and girls documented by Human Rights Watch, including the practice of abducting women and girls and forcibly converting them to Islam and/or forcibly marrying them to ISIS members, may be part of a genocide against Yezidis.”

[ARA News] MANBIJ – Western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday continued its operation for Manbij city against the Islamic State (ISIS), and recaptured new areas from the radical group, military sources reported.

The SDF operation for Manbij is led by the Manbij Military Council, formed by local fighters with the goal of liberating their areas from ISIS under the leadership of the SDF.

This progress comes after the SDF troops crossed to the western bank of the Euphrates River subsequent to bombing ISIS strongholds there. The Manbij operation continued on Friday with the support of the US-led coalition’s air cover.

“Dozens of ISIS jihadis were killed since the start of the Manbij military campaign,” SDF officer Habun Osman told ARA News, without going further details.

On Tuesday, the Kurdish-led SDF troops launched an operation to capture Manbij and it’s countryside from the extremist group of Islamic State (ISIS). The newly established city council of Manbij released a statement suggesting that the liberation is near.

Speaking to ARA News, US-led coalition spokesman Colonel Christopher Garver said that for the US “it’s critical that the ISIS-held Manbij pocket of 98-kilometers is seized from the radical group”.

“As to why the Manbij pocket is important, it represents a major border crossing point where foreign fighters can cross into Syria from Turkey,” Garver said.

[ARA News] MANBIJ – Ranj Talabani, a member of the Kurdish Zaniyari intelligence organization, confirmed that FSA commander Abu Layla was heavily injured on Friday during clashes with ISIS militants in the Manbij operation.

Subsequent to his injury, the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) commander Abu Layla was reportedly moved to the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan for treatment.

Speaking to ARA News, Kurdish journalist Mutlu Civiroglu, an expert on Syrian Kurds, confirmed that Abu Layla was brought by helicopter to Suleymaniyah.

“Abu Layla’s condition is severe, with internal bleeding to the brain, and doctors are unable to remove a bullet to the head. The FSA commander is now in Slemani’s [Suleymaniyah] ICU and his situation is still critical, doctors may go to surgery again. Waiting for updates,” Talabani, an intelligence officer in Iraqi Kurdistan, wrote on Twitter.

Abu Layla is the head of the FSA-linked Northern Sun Battalion, and is a leading member of the Manbij Military Council. He has been injured several times in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).

So far, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have not confirmed the news about Abu Layla’s injury.

“We are receiving SDF fighters for treatment in Slemani, regardless of whether they are Kurdish or Arab. Our unity will ensure ISIS defeat,” Talabani also said.

“Just spoke with SDF commanders on the Manbij front lines, spirits are high and Abu Layla has become a symbol of resistance and unity,” he added.

[An Nahar] The State Security announced on Friday the arrest of an Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terror cell in the Mount Leb town of Aley, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Based on the order of the State Commissioner to the Military Court and after thorough observation, the State Security tossed in the slammerDrop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! the leader of the cell and its members, said NNA.

Leb's security forces have intensified raids on suspicious locations where IS group members take a hide and prepare for terror schemes.

On Thursday the army killed an Islamic State group bully boy and arrested three others in Khirbet Daoud in Akkar.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Regime bombing raids in and around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed 31 civilians Friday, including 10 when their bus was hit, the civil defense said.

"As well as the 10 civilians killed in strikes on the bus... 21 others died in intense strikes on several neighborhoods in the east of the city since dawn," the organization known as the White Helmets said.

An AFP correspondent in Aleppo said Friday's bombing raids were the most intense in more than a week, with dozens of barrel bombs -- crude, unguided bombs -- hitting several eastern quarters of the city.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Syrian army backed by Russian air strikes has advanced towards ISIS-held Raqqa province in a new offensive, a group monitoring the war said, nearing a region where US-backed militias have also attacked the murderous Moslem group.

Heavy Russian air strikes hit ISIS-held territory in eastern areas of Hama province near the provincial boundary with Raqqa on Friday, where the army had advanced some 12 km (7 miles), according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The army was around 12 km from the Raqqa provincial boundary.

US-backed militias including the Kurdish YPG are pressing a separate, multi-pronged attack against ISIS in Raqqa province and neighbouring Aleppo province, which escalated this week with a push towards the city of Manbij near the Turkish border.

A pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper said the Syrian army was entering "the race for Raqqa" with its new offensive. A Syrian military source, however, said that reports of an attack targeting Raqqa were "expectations", and that both Raqqa and Deir al-Zor, also in the hands of ISIS bad boys, were possible targets of army operations.

The army announced on Thursday a new operation backed by Russian air strikes in the Athriya area of eastern Hama province close to the provincial border with Raqqa. State media said the army had made territorial gains and inflicted heavy casualties.

"There is progress from Athriya on two fronts but the coming direction is not set," the military source said.

Raqqa city is ISIS's de facto capital, and the province has been a major base of operations for the group.

The Syrian military source said the army was focused on eastern and northern areas of both Homs and Hama provinces "in the direction of ISIS (ISIS) gatherings".

Homs province borders the ISIS-dominated Deir al-Zor region which links the territory it controls in Syria with the territory it holds in Iraq.

"The field leadership does not give information about the main direction or the secondary direction, but the direction is open to two possibilities - Deir al-Zor and Raqqa," the source said.

The Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar said the first aim was to capture the town of Tabqa in Raqqa, the location of an air base and major ISIS arsenal, and to put "a foot in the area without leaving it completely to the Americans' allies".

The US-backed Syria Democratic Forces alliance (SDF) launched an attack in that direction last week.

The SDF has also begun an offensive against ISIS-held areas in Aleppo province, beginning with the Manbij area. That thrust, supported by US special forces, aims to deny ISIS any access to the Turkish frontier.

Al-Akhbar said the new Syrian army operation did not aim to reach Raqqa city "in the coming weeks", but the goal was at least to reach Tabqa city and Lake Assad, which it overlooks.

Tabqa is some 50 km (30 miles) west of Raqqa city. ISIS captured Tabqa in 2014 at the height of its rapid expansion in Syria and Iraq.

The Syrian army advanced to the border between Raqqa and Hama provinces in February. A military source said at the time Tabqa would be the first target of a Syrian government attack in Raqqa province.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... said in April the Syrian army was planning offensives against the cities of Deir al-Zor and Raqqa with the support of the Russian air force, which has been backing government forces on the battlefield for several months.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Coalition aircraft dropped ammunition to Syrian rebels fighting ISIS in northern Aleppo as they try to prevent the turbans from entering the town of Marea, a monitoring group said on Friday.

Wouldn't be better to drop the ammo directly on the heads of the ISIS gunnies?

He said it was the first time the coalition had made such a drop to rebel fighters other than the Kurds, although a US defense official denied this.

The official confirmed the drops, but said they did not include light weapons or anti-tank weapons.

ISIS fighters swept through rebel-held territory in a shock offensive in Aleppo province late last month, cutting off the main road between Marea and Azaz -- two main rebels bastions in the province.

The ISIS advance forced thousands to flee towards the northern frontier with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....The United Nations...an idea whose time has gone... said it was "deeply concerned over the fate of an estimated 8,000 Syrians trapped by fighting around the towns of Marea and Sheikh Issa".

An unknown number of people are unable to flee due to fighting and the closure of the main road between Marea and Azaz, it added.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.